Mental health first aid training for the Chinese community in Melbourne, Australia: effects on knowledge about and attitudes toward people with mental illness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to investigate in members of the Chinese community in Melbourne the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training on knowledge about mental disorders and on attitudes to people with mental illness. The hypotheses were that at the end of the training participants would have increased knowledge of mental disorders and related treatments, and decreased negative attitudes towards people with mental disorders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Respondents were 108 participants of three MHFA training workshops for the Chinese community in Melbourne conducted by a qualified MHFA trainer. Participants completed the research questionnaire prior to the commencement of the training (pre-test) and at its completion (post-test). The questionnaires assessed participants' ability to recognize a mental disorder (depression and schizophrenia) described in the vignettes, knowledge about the professional help and treatment, and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Between pre- and post-test there was significant improvement in the recognition of mental disorders, beliefs about treatment became more concordant with health professionals, and negative attitudes reduced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MHFA training course for general members of the Chinese community in Melbourne produced significant positive change in the level of mental health literacy and reductions in stigmatizing attitudes. The evidence from this study, together with the accumulated evidence of the benefits of MHFA training in the general Australian community, suggests that this approach should be scaled up to a level where it can have an impact on the whole of the Chinese community in Australia.</p

A Theoretical Analysis of the Repetition Problem in Text Generation

Text generation tasks, including translation, summarization, language models, and etc. see rapid growth during recent years. Despite the remarkable achievements, the repetition problem has been observed in nearly all text generation models undermining the generation performance extensively. To solve the repetition problem, many methods have been proposed, but there is no existing theoretical analysis to show why this problem happens and how it is resolved. In this paper, we propose a new framework for theoretical analysis for the repetition problem. We first define the Average Repetition Probability (ARP) to characterize the repetition problem quantitatively. Then, we conduct an extensive analysis of the Markov generation model and derive several upper bounds of the average repetition probability with intuitive understanding. We show that most of the existing methods are essentially minimizing the upper bounds explicitly or implicitly. Grounded on our theory, we show that the repetition problem is, unfortunately, caused by the traits of our language itself. One major reason is attributed to the fact that there exist too many words predicting the same word as the subsequent word with high probability. Consequently, it is easy to go back to that word and form repetitions and we dub it as the high inflow problem. Furthermore, we derive a concentration bound of the average repetition probability for a general generation model. Finally, based on the theoretical upper bounds, we propose a novel rebalanced encoding approach to alleviate the high inflow problem. The experimental results show that our theoretical framework is applicable in general generation models and our proposed rebalanced encoding approach alleviates the repetition problem significantly. The source code of this paper can be obtained from https://github.com/fuzihaofzh/repetition-problem-nlg.Comment: AAAI 21 Paper with Appendi

Changes in perceived mental fatigue, physical fatigue and mood state during a 4-day national junior orienteering competition preparation camp

Mental fatigue (MF) has been shown to acutely impair the psychological responses and endurance running performance of orienteers. This study aimed to explore MF levels experienced by orienteers during a 4-day competition preparation camp that consisted of simulated sprint, middle-distance, long-distance, relay and night races. Eleven national junior orienteers participated in the study (age: 15–17 years, height: 1.69 ± 0.07 m and body mass: 59.9 ± 5.22 kg). Subjective ratings of MF, motivation, stress, physical fatigue (PF) and tiredness were measured using a 100-mm visual analogue scale. The Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) was utilized to assess the mood state of the orienteers. The self-report measures were taken within 30 min of waking, immediately after the post-training session, and after 24 and 48 h following the final training session. The pre–post orienteering training combined analysis showed that there was a moderate increase in perceived MF (ES = 1.06 [0.66, 1.45]), PF (ES = 1.07 [0.69, 1.45]) and BRUMS fatigue (ES = 0.74 [0.4, 1.1]) after orienteering training. At 48 h post the final training session, MF remained moderately elevated (ES = 0.86 [−0.07, 1.75]), while PF also remained elevated to a small extent (ES = 0.46 [−0.46, 1.39]) compared to the pre-training values. A moderate impairment was still observed in BRUMS vigor (ES = −1.02 [−1.65, −0.36]), but BRUMS confusion scores were moderately lower (ES = −0.85 [−1.71, 0.04]) than pre-training values. This study found that orienteering training induced acute MF, persisting for at least 48 h after the final session

Direct health care costs of treating seasonal affective disorder: a comparison of light therapy and fluoxetine.

Objective. To compare the direct mental health care costs between individuals with Seasonal Affective Disorder randomized to either fluoxetine or light therapy. Methods. Data from the CANSAD study was used. CANSAD was an 8-week multicentre double-blind study that randomized participants to receive either light therapy plus placebo capsules or placebo light therapy plus fluoxetine. Participants were aged 18-65 who met criteria for major depressive episodes with a seasonal (winter) pattern. Mental health care service use was collected for each subject for 4 weeks prior to the start of treatment and for 4 weeks prior to the end of treatment. All direct mental health care services costs were analysed, including inpatient and outpatient services, investigations, and medications. Results. The difference in mental health costs was significantly higher after treatment for the light therapy group compared to the medication group-a difference of $111.25 (z = -3.77, P = 0.000). However, when the amortized cost of the light box was taken into the account, the groups were switched with the fluoxetine group incurring greater direct care costs-a difference of$75.41 (z = -2.635, P = 0.008). Conclusion. The results suggest that individuals treated with medication had significantly less mental health care cost after-treatment compared to those treated with light therapy

Modulation of the endocannabinoid system in viable and non-viable first trimester pregnancies by pregnancy-related hormones

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In early pregnancy, increased plasma levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) are associated with miscarriage through mechanisms that might affect the developing placenta or maternal decidua.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, we compare AEA levels in failed and viable pregnancies with the levels of the trophoblastic hormones (beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG), progesterone (P4) and (pregnancy-associated placental protein-A (PAPP-A)) essential for early pregnancy success and relate that to the expression of the cannabinoid receptors and enzymes that modulate AEA levels.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median plasma AEA level in non-viable pregnancies (1.48 nM; n = 20) was higher than in viable pregnancies (1.21 nM; n = 25; <it>P </it>= 0.013), as were progesterone and beta-hCG levels (41.0 vs 51.5 ng/mL; <it>P </it>= 0.052 for P4 and 28,650 vs 6,560 mIU/L; <it>P </it>= 0.144 for beta-hCG, respectively, but were not statistically significant). Serum PAPP-A levels in the viable group were approximately 6.8 times lower than those in the non-viable group (1.82 vs 12.25 mg/L; <it>P </it>= 0.071), but again these differences were statistically insignificant. In the spontaneous miscarriage group, significant correlations between P4 and beta-hCG, P4 and PAPP-A and AEA and PAPP-A levels were observed. Simultaneously, immunohistochemical distributions of the two main cannabinoid receptors and the AEA-modifying enzymes, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and <it>N</it>-acylphosphatidylethanolamine-phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD), changed within both the decidua and trophoblast.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The association of higher AEA levels with early pregnancy failure and with beta-hCG and PAPP-A, but not with progesterone concentrations suggest that plasma AEA levels and pregnancy failure are linked <it>via </it>a mechanism that may involve trophoblastic beta-hCG, and PAPP-A, but not, progesterone production. Although the trophoblast, decidua and embryo contain receptors for AEA, the main AEA target in early pregnancy failure remains unknown.</p

Phase equilibria and crystallization of the lithium oxide-zinc oxide-silica system.

The phase equilibria in the glass forming region of the lithium oxide-zinc oxide-silica ternary system were investigated by the quenching technique with a vertical gradient furnace. The glass forming limit on the low silica line , being higher in silica at the lithium oxide rich side. The refractive indices of the glasses were measured by the Beche line technique. Zinc oxide was found to increase the refractive indices of the glasses more than the lithium oxide. Tridymite , lithium disilicate, lithium metasilicate , zinc orthosilicate and two ternury compounds were found as primary phase crystals. One of the ternary compounds was identified conclusively as Li20.ZnO. Si02• The other ternary compound was tentatively identified as 2Li20.4ZnO.3Si02. The optical properties and the x-ray diffraction patterns of these two ternary compounds are very similar and they form solid solutions with each other. Also zinc orthosilicate dissolves in 2Li20.4ZnO.3Si02 to form solid solutions. Continuous solid solution was found along the Li2 0.ZnO.Si02 - 2ZnO ,Si02 join with up to 60 mol % of zinc orthosilicate dissolved in Li20.ZnO.Si02 in the specimens quenched from above 1500 C. Two eutectic points and two reaction points were found in the compositions investigated. The eutectic point of the composition triangle Si02 - Li20.2Si02 - Li20.ZnO.Si02 was found at Li2 0 F5.5 mol % ZnO 10 mol fa , Si02 64.5 mol % and 9550 ~5°C. The eutectic point of' the composition triangle Si02 - Li20.ZnO. Si02 - 2Li20.4ZnO.3Si02 was located at Li2 0 16.5 mol %, ZnO 23 mol %, Si02 60.5 mol % at 10SOo :!:SoC. The reaction point of the composition triangle Li2 0, 2Si02 - Li2 0.Si02 - Li2 0.ZnO.Si02 was found at Li20 27.5 mol %, ZnO 9.8 Q.(',l %, Si02 63.7 mol % at 9760 =5°;,;.. The reaction point between the SiO , 2ZnO.SiO and 2 2 2Li20.4ZnO.3Si02 Was located at Li2 0 15.7 mol %, ZnO 24.6 mol %, Si02 % • + 0 59-7 malo and 1068 -5 c. The two-phase regions were found below the solidus temperature in the composition triangle of 8i02 - Li20.ZnO.Si02 - 21i2 0.4ZnO .3Si02, Extraneous lines were found to be included in the lithium disilicate and lithium metasilicate data in the X-Ray Powder Data File. The present powder data of lithium disilicate were indexed as orthorhombic crystal with cell parameters Uo ' a 5.80R, b. = 14.66R and 0. • 4.806R, and that of the lithium metasilioute were indexed as pseudohexagonal orthorhombic crystal with, cell parameters a. =5.43R, ~ ~ 9.4lR and c = 4.6601. o The crystallization characteristics of five glasses of this ternary system were studied. Uniform crystallization was found to occur in all the specimens. Big lithium disilicate crystals were found in specimens .four glasses. A high concentration of tiny crystals was found in every specimen. A hot stage microscope with a microfurnace was constructed to study the crystal growth in glasses of this system. Three glasses were investigated. The usual hump shaped growth rate versus temperature curves were obtained. The growth of the crystals were found to be linear with time . The maxi mum growth rate of lithium metasilicate, lithium disilicate Li20.Zno.Si02 and tridymite in these glasses were found to be about 3,500, 400, 70 and 20 micron per minute respectively